Q. I need to know what kinds of perennials I can plant that
have bright, showy flowers but stay small for the tight spaces in my garden.
Q. Please tell me what could have eaten my begonias at the base and
caused them to fall over as if they were rotted.
Q. What causes the asters I plant to turn totally brown every
summer except for the upper 25% of the stems?
Q. I want to spruce up my house with flowers this season. Which ones
do well through fall and winter in North Florida?
Q. I have Mexican bush sage in my yard. Will it live through the
winter here? When can I move it?
Q. My Mexican heather is three years old. The cold has turned it brown.
Should I prune it or just toss it out?
Q. Why do the leaves of my peace lily have brown, brittle tips?
Q. A friend gave me a florist cyclamen. All the label says is to keep it
out of direct sunlight. I put it on a table and the leaves turned yellow and the blooms
wilted. What caused this?
Q. Is it too late to mow down liriope to freshen the foliage for spring?
Q. Could I use Carolina jessamine to cover a slope? Or could I grow it in
a pot that I take inside for the winter?
Q. My very full and otherwise healthy hostas have holes in many of the
leaves. My coleus has the same problem. What can I do to stop this?
Q. What are my chances of rooting a cutting from a clematis that is
growing on my neighbor's fence? (I have his permission.)
Q. As soon as my gladioli begin to bloom, they fall over. I've limed and
fertilized to no avail. Any advice?
Q. I have two beautiful potted bromeliads that are growing in partial sun
and will not bloom. Any ideas?
Q. Each spring, wild violets appear in my lawn. Can I transplant them? How can I
encourage the ones growing where I want them to multiply?
Q. I have quite a number of spider
lilies coming up but, so far, only one bloom. When can I dig and divide them? Will they
grow in containers?
Q. There are black spots on the leaves of some of my impatiens. Is this
a fungus? If so, what fungicide should I use?
Q. I need information about plants that like lots of heat and also grow
in wet soil.
Q. I live in the Tampa Bay area and just received a peace lily as a gift. Can I plant it
outdoors? Does it need sun or shade?
Q. I recently acquired seeds of the annual hyacinth bean vine. How can I start and
grow the seeds?
Q. The leaves of my potted amaryllis bulbs are turning yellow. Should I cut them off? I would
like to keep the bulbs and get them to bloom again.
Q. I have two large peace lilies that seldom flower. They also keep getting brown tips on the
ends of the leaves. When I water them, I usually give them a large amount, and then I
don't water again until the soil feels dry. How can I end the brown spots and get my
plants to bloom?
Q. I have a large planting of purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea). They love their location but get very tall (more than 4 feet), which causes them to flop over. What should I do? Cut them back?
Q. What do you do with the long, tall, flowering stems that hostas produce in midsummer? Should you cut them back or leave them?
Q. None of my dahlias has bloomed, even though I water and fertilize regularly. We've had several 100-plus-degree days recently. Is it too hot for them?
Q. We have a perennial bed at the foot of a large oak tree. We would like to redo the bed and dig in a lot of compost and mushroom soil to raise it by about 4 inches. Would it be better to remake the bed now or wait until spring?
Q. Our garden club usually exchanges potted plants at our monthly meetings. Any suggestions for colorful plants that we could enjoy indoors this fall and winter?
